Wednesday, November 29, 2006

* CB sends us a license plate that we really hope one of our Ohio readers will snare (and send us pics!). We'll even get you a Buckstache tee to go along with it. Best of all, the real one is probably hand-made by Mo' C.

* Say it isn't so -- "Lloyd Carr" arrested for skimming anti-drug funds to fuel gambling addiction. What are the odds the arresting officer was named "Jim Tressel?" And Carr's sentence? 1-5. Thank you, goodnight! I'll be here all week.

(HT to all the readers who sent us that one)

* Finally, Brian over at MGoBlog, in conjunction with RockyTopTalk, is looking for award categories for soon-to-be nominations for college football bloggers. Brian has asked all of us who participate in his Blogpoll to throw out suggestions. Well, we thought we'd make it even bigger by asking our readers to chime in. Here are the parameters as sent to us:

"We're still searching for what, exactly, the awards are going to be, and that's your assignment this week: a couple things you think would be good ideas to give out. We're looking for a good range of things so we can highlight a number of different blogs doing good work.You can take a couple for granted: a "Best in Show," the equivalent of Best Picture and Best New Blog. Also likely are Best Prose, Funniest, Best Analysis, plus post-related ones: a post of the year category and a best regular feature category. We're looking for anything and everything else, plus good names for everything."

14 comments:

For the categories thing I'm thinking along the same lines as you guys. Funniest, most informational, most statistical. Maybe something like a "sleeper" category for some of the blogs that seem to get less recognition, like Maize n Brew, Stadium and Main, and Michigan Sports Center to name a few.

The blog awards are a good idea. Among the categories -- both of which are locks for the M Zone -- should be best satire of a mascot (War Tig-Plains-gle) and best exercise in democracy (Coed Showdown).

Shouldn't there be a special category set up for when a wonk at the WWL rips off your stuff for a national radio show. If it was funny enogh to rip off, you should receive an award for it, and another one for the ensuing apology.

Awards or not, great blog, keep up the good work. Even Buckeyes like me get a laugh everytime we come here (daily for me).

How about some categories specific to this type of blog, like Best Analysis of an Opposing Team, Best Analysis of Recruitment, Best Pre and Post Game Analysis, Most Accurate Gameday Predictions, stuff like that?

How about "Best Comment to a Blog" - I nominate that Horn fan that replied to the posting of that OU kid crying on YouTube during the Texas game, (paraphrase) "He's probably crying because after the game his mom won't let him ride the ferris wheel again before he has to go back to the trailer park."

Is there anyway you can pirate into PC's website and put up that Stud Boy Costume as his intro pic??? (LOL) That's ALL I can picture when I see that man now......and I shudder each time, along with a full body dry heave.

THE COST OF KEEPING THE PEACE OT ‘victory’ for OSU Overtime security tab for Michigan game seen as a bargain by some Wednesday, November 29, 2006Jodi Andes THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH There were no overturned cars left smoldering after the Ohio State-Michigan game this year. And there were just two charred couches as opposed to dozens. But there is one hefty overtime bill left to pay for the police officers and firefighters who ensured that there weren’t riots this year. The overtime security costs before and after Ohio State University’s victory over the University of Michigan reached $562,415.65, according to reports released by area law-enforcement officials this week. That doesn’t include salaries of all the safety forces who were working their regularly-scheduled shifts. It also doesn’t account for the pre-game publicity blitz urging fans to behave. (That campaign cost $73,000, most of which was paid for by the OSU Athletics Department, OSU spokeswoman Shelly Hoffman said.) A half-million dollars to ensure peace amid all the excitement of the match between the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked rivals isn’t surprising, law-enforcement officials said. "It’s hard to put a price tag on prevention. You can’t do that. You prevented serious injury, maybe death, and definitely property damage," OSU Assistant Police Chief Rick Amweg said. Framed in his office is the headline "This time, fans under control" that ran in Monday’s Dispatch after the weekend was over. "Now that is a victory," Amweg said. It’s tough to break down the costs, but he estimates that protection inside the Horseshoe cost about $83,000. That doesn’t include protection for the goal posts. Troopers, police and deputies working traffic nearby were called inside at the end of the game to help with that. Costs to have extra medics and firefighters on hand totaled roughly $48,000, records show. Though they haven’t seen any estimates yet, university officials think security costs were small compared with the money the game brought to town. "I think it brought a lot more money in than what was spent" on keeping people secure, Hoffman said. About $20,000 of the total security cost was paid for by a federal grant. The Franklin County sheriff’s office was awarded the grant to focus on underage drinkers at the games, Deputy Chief Steve Martin said. The program has been run since 2003 and has seen an increasing number of arrests every football season, Martin said. In 2003, deputies made 35 arrests of underage drinkers. This year, it was 175 people under age 21 arrested during the season, he said. Tactics used Nov. 18, such as extra trash pickup, the campaign to remind fans to behave and enforcement of the city’s ban of couches on porches, likely will be repeated for the Jan. 8 national championship game in Glendale, Ariz., university and police officials said. However, planning has just begun for how to control revelers after that game, they said. Just as Michigan sent police officers to escort its team and coaches here, OSU will send officers to Arizona, Amweg said. "Actually, we’ve all been doing that for 20 years," he said. "It’s a great help to us." Though out-of-state officers have no police powers, they help with anticipating the team’s movements and needs — and help communicate that to local authorities. This year, Michigan brought five officers instead of three, but that was the only difference, Columbus Safety Director Mitchell J. Brown said. How many OSU sends to Arizona will be up to the Athletics Department — and how many university officials attend — Amweg said. For example, if OSU President Karen A. Holbrook is going, she would have protection, he said.

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